The Ming (1368-1644)
Civilized, unlike Mongolian (Yuan) hordes that preceded them.
Movement from rural to urban
Emphasis on Bureacracy, laws, taxes, education
Capitalist, with industrial centers, shipping, goods
Class and demographic mobility resulting from revival of examination system.
1368: Zhu Yuanzhang throws out the Yuan Mongols and starts the Ming (Brightness) Dynasty. Takes on the name of Hongwu, first emperor of the Ming.
Zhu Yuanzhang member of the White Lotus sect of Buddhists who revolted against Yuan.
After 1340, White Lotus Buddhists become militant Red Turban fighters, North and South
- Military Ability
- Took advice from Confucian Scholars (many jinshi)
- Defeated Northern Red Turbans
- Assumed Mongol/Yuan administrative techniques:
- retained Mongol military structure of career class dominated by hereditary class
- organized in weiso system: 5000 men=guards/1000 men=battalion
- army made self sufficient through conquest and colonization
- Yuan government three –pronged:
- Secretariat: two chancellors for administration, taxation
- Independent Bureau of Military Affairs
- Censorate: spy network
- Revived Confucian examinations as prerequistive to entering civil service
- Expanded system of jinshi—best scholars presented to emperor. System of meritocracy balances systems of heredity (military leadership)
- Created Ming legal code in 1397. Harsh punishments:
- officials guilty of taking bribes decapitated, head put on pike, body skinned and stuffed with straw.
- Revived use of Eunuchs as personal envoys and tax collectors.
- Started state supported education system
- 1370 organizes country for tax purposes
1399-1402: Jianwen, son of Hongwu, succeeds father. Deposed by uncle in 1403 (1403-1424), the Yongle Emperor.
- Yongle Emperor moves Ming capital from Nanjing to Beijing in 1417.
- Establishes strong foreign policy.
- Established commercial navy. 317 ships voyage to Africa, India, Arabia
- Fought Mongols on northern frontier. Dies doing so.
- Expanded the empire: Took over Vietnam, fought Mongols
- Entrusted eunuchs with bureaucratic control, secretarial and envoy duties, and military duties. (Eunuchs only ones allowed in palace, so controlled information flow)
After Yongle Emperor, end of Ming expansion.
Great Wall in the North begun by Ming in 1474, to keep out Mongolian hords.
Late Ming
1522-1566—Jiajing Emperor a Daoist—looking for immortality, magic potions. Lets government go to pieces.
Failing to maintain the frontiers
Failing to cope with bad crops
Mongols invade Beijing, loot. Raids continued despite Wall
Manchus from North (Jurchen tribes) pose greater threat.
1514, first Portugese rech China, 1550s, gain control of Macau for trading.
1567: first Jesuit missionaries allowed in China.
1598: Matteo Ricci allowed to come to Beijing.
1604: DonglinAcademy established by dismissed or disgruntled Confucian scholars. Put pressure on Dynasty to maintain rituals, respect for Confucians.
1630s and 40s: Manchu raiders attack China, and led rebellions inside of it.
24 April 1644, Manchu leader Dorgon enters Beijing, and last Ming Emperor Hangs himself.
Manchu or Ching/Qing Dynasty
Nuraci—Abahai—Uncle Dorgon—Kangxi (son of Abahai)
Dorgon orders mourning for last Ming emperor
Dorgon makes tax oncessions, declares Chinese Han and Manchurians a unified people
Invited Confucian Chinese into the buracracy
Adapted Ming and Chinese Ways
Assimilated Chinese Bureacracy into Qing bureaucracy
Kangxi (1667-1722)
Kangxi relies on Chinese generals in war against southern rebels
Starts acting like a Chinese Emperor:
- Institutes Household System of Inner Court/Outer Court
- Inner Court ruled by Emperor, through Eunuchs
- Outer Court ruled by Confucian Bureacracy, governed by statute law
- Employs Foreigners—especially Jesuits (In 1692, Jesuits cured Kangxi’s malaria, so “edict of toleration” issued.
- Froze tax codes: government should keep tax light
- Foreign trade allowed Portugese
And in the future: Great Britain’s East India Company